here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame

[initiates]

Date: October 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory for the show of the year. Initial briefings are very brief this time around, and that Greeter just won't stop crying.
Warnings: new confused people and old sad people??

Your arrival here has been very unceremonious. One second you were somewhere else, and now, very suddenly, your feet hit the glowing white of the Transporter pad, and you're here. You aren't alone, either. There's a crowd of others around you, each seeming just as bewildered, angry, or confused as you might feel. At the head of the group is a woman in purple robes, with eyes red as if she'd just finished crying. She hurries over a quick overview of your intended purpose here, and gives direct answers when asked for them, but to most things she simply shows you how to access the tablet you've just been given. There, you can find the history of this place and a record of what your new cohorts have experienced — although it won't have Network access for another 8 hours. Someone stands on hand to give you a weapon, and though the armory is now greatly reduced, you should be able to find something to suit you.

You're shepherded down a walkway tunnel and into the Observatory, where you will find screens mounted on three sides of the wide room. The only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, and the scenes of a dreary, rainy city from various cameras up on the screens; the largest of the screens opens up to a view of Earth from a good distance away -- this one isn't a screen at all, you might realize, but a window. As you watch, all screens in the room fill with light, impossibly bright. It consumes the buildings, the people, everything. There is no sound played, perhaps mercifully, only that white light -- and then nothing.

Through the large window, there's a pinprick of light over one of the landmasses on the blue planet. It grows to a tiny blossom and then dies away, but a cloud begins to mushroom outward in the same spot. It pushes the natural clouds out of the way, claiming that small portion of the world and wrapping it in a uniform gray.

Strings of numbers begin to fill the blanked out screens as the base's AI begins collecting data and calculations, but the show seems to be over. You're free to explore the base, visit and use any of the VR rooms, or discover your new room and roommates, but try not to step out of any airlocks if oxygen is a requirement for your system.

Welcome to the moon base, with front row seats to the grave of Exsilium.

[[ooc; reminder! The Network will be down for 8 hours after the wave of new Transports.]]

Comments

[importance]

[ the woman, nor the accent, is one leia can easily place. it shouldn't be terribly surprising, she thinks; this galaxy, from what's she's witnessed and learned, is clearly not her own. while she's gathered the knowledge that it's far from imperial territory, such information hardly settles her. there's no joy to be found from being pulled from one conflict and forced into another, not when everything she's been striving for could unravel without the presence of herself, luke, and han while they fight another's war. even so, the unease hardly shows in her face, not to the unobservant. her smile is polite, neutral, but faintly tinged with dismay at the situation she's landed herself in. ]

Oh. No, I don't —

[ think so is what she's about to say, but ensuring that requires glancing over herself and finding no wounds from her successful attempt at escaping jabba. ]

I'm fine, really. Just a little... lost, you could say.

[ and by lost, she definitely means unnerved. ]

[praevikaan]

[Her brow stays furrowed in concern, but she nods. That the woman could be lying doesn't even occur to her, no, her worry is for other things.]

We are all lost, I think. Being here.

[Then she reaches towards her own neck, her gesture meant to indicate the end of the chain about the other woman's.]

You are a slave? We should remove that, before too many others see it.

[Tact is probably not her middle name.]

[importance]

[ it's not an entirely tactful approach, but leia can appreciate directness. she absently reaches for the chain, fingers gliding over her neck. ]

Yes. For a short time, anyway. I was free before I found myself here.

[ her tone is a bit bitter; being torn from one war and thrown into one that's not her own while the former presumably wages on without her involvement leaves her anxious and displeased.

she drops her hand, offering a nod of agreement. ]

If we can find a way to remove it, I'd be grateful.

[praevikaan]

['For a short time'. That could mean a multitude of things, but she hopes it means escape, and nods approvingly.]

Mm.

[She scrutinizes the chain, trying to study it without getting too far into the woman's bubble of personal space.]

Was it welded? Or is there a key?

[She could perhaps pick a simple lock, she understands how tumblers work within them, but it would take much trial and error. A weld... would be more difficult.]

[importance]

[ her personal space being invaded isn't something leia always takes kindly to, but considering the other woman isn't someone like jabba or vader, she doesn't appear to be too uncomfortable. she angles her neck so that the woman can have a clear view of the collar and broken chain, her own hand rising to grasp at the cool material. ]

A key, I believe.

[ and she isn't particularly skilled at picking any locks, nor would it be possible to perform such a feat herself. there's a short beat as she slides her fingers against the metal, pondering. ]

Do you have experience with this sort of thing?

[ picking locks, she means, though she supposes meaning 'freeing women from collars' could also be applicable. ]